Khala Posted June 14, 2011 (edited) Hey everyone This will be my cactus growblog. Firstly, some current projects: This is an experimental graft on some Gym spp. pups that were salvaged from Bunnings onto E. chamaecereus. Not much hope for them, but it was a fun endeavor. They are firmly attached without any engineering. This is about 20-35 seeds scattered on some cactus soil (why do they load it up with sticks and junk?) doing a takeaway tek. May be a little cold for them to germinate, but it's a good tester and mini project. When Spring rolls around, I'm going to sew out a ton of seeds into these little greenhouse type things I picked up at Bunnings for about $7 a piece. Annnd finally, here are some cuttings I recieved today (Thankyou most generous one ) of T. Pachanoi. I will update as I go Thanks everyone, peace. Edited June 16, 2011 by Khala Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 14, 2011 Looks like you're off to a good start. Is that your first graft? Did you sift the soil, or sterilise it? Coarse sand is usually the go, as it doesn't contaminate with fungi or other organisms easily, but soil if sterilised works too. Wrong season to start in though. Not much will grow without more heat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunter Posted June 14, 2011 I don't like coarse sand or sterile mixes myself, I've tried them and found that they just didn't perform as well as living loam or a simple mix of coir and perlite. Contamination is not a real worry unless you are using sterile medias. Your up to a great start! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 15, 2011 Looks like you're off to a good start. Is that your first graft?Did you sift the soil, or sterilise it? Coarse sand is usually the go, as it doesn't contaminate with fungi or other organisms easily, but soil if sterilised works too. Wrong season to start in though. Not much will grow without more heat. Yeah, that is my first graft. Very firmly attached now, some signs of healthiness - it's a rich red colour. I didn't sift nor sterilize the soil although I sprinkled the top layer on between my fingers. And yeah, it's a bit too cold, but I figured it's a small amount of seeds to lose. There is very little condensation on the lid of my container which I figure is a good sign, but it's still quite moist (not wet). Potting up those cuttings on the weekend. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philocacti Posted June 15, 2011 very impressive grafting for your first time i killed so many cacti in my learning experience of grafting great work Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) Okay, potted up four of the six cuttings before running out of both soil AND pots, so I'm going to have to pick some more up tomorrow. Here is some E. chamaecereus repotted, should make a nice sprawl eventually. They've been in their new pot for a while now. Some ornamentals I picked up from bunnings not too long ago, and the E. scop and P. azureus I repotted. And some succulents for the fans out there. Cheers Edited June 16, 2011 by Khala 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) Okay, another update. This time I put some effort into the photos, apologies about previous quality. All the T. pachanois are potted up and looking damn sexy in their spot - next time I transplant I'll use terracotta, plastic is fine for now. This is the Mammillaria hahnia blooming, looks stunning. I wish I had taken a sequence of photos of the process. Maybe another day. And another one of the graft. It's a little lopsided due to the angle of the graft. The red coloured Gym. has fresh growth, the orange one I fear may be dying, but is still full of colour. Unsure. Peace! Edited June 18, 2011 by Khala 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
interbeing Posted June 18, 2011 Nice work mate Cant wait for the growing season to start and see how they all go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 18, 2011 Cheers interbeing, thankyou so much. Beautiful plants. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
incognito Posted June 18, 2011 agreed. im through with just plain css. a mix of loam and css, heavier on the loam side of things, unsteralised seems to sustain my seedlings much much better, with less fiddly work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 23, 2011 Germination, in winter, of random trich seeds, in NINE DAYS!? I don't believe it! But it's true! Three of around 30 seeds that I planted nine days ago have germinated. The purple colouration on the middle one is felt tip pen that I used to scrape off the bits of dirty and shit, but wow! So cool! Will keep you posted (: P.S. graft appears to be dying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 25, 2011 15-20 seedlings have now popped up. In all this madness I decided to plant two more takeaway containers of E. spachiana, about 40 in each. There's no season like the grow season Peace! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bogfrog Posted June 26, 2011 hey good on your for posting a pic of your graft,i have a few E. chamaecereus leftover from my childhood cacti collection and i never would have thought of trying a graft on them, so thank you! good luck on your cacti endeavors! you are off on a nice start Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 26, 2011 Another update, it's a nice day so I decided to get some pictures. Lots of seedlings popping up! Looking quite healthy. Some tip discolouration though, I attempted to pull the little opened pods off the top. Bad idea. Oh well! And here's where I've got them now, it may be a bit high up but they seem to like it. Peace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 28, 2011 Another update, it's been 14 days now. They are looking really nice, some are quite tall and large now. There's easily 40-45 popping up. But something is bothering me, almost all of them have an orange/brown tinge on the top - is it too much sun exposure? They are recieving slight filtered curtain light. And it's been overcast. Should I just lay some newspaper over them? Cheers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 28, 2011 Are they as pale as the photographs make them look? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 28, 2011 Nowhere near as pale, but they aren't a solid green. They're a pretty light shade. What do you think the problem is? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazonian Posted June 28, 2011 Khala the problem is that the seedlings don't like your taste in music.... LOLZ. ( You know, being on top of your speakers and all). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted June 28, 2011 Amaz is right. Nah, the pigment you're seeing is normal. Most likely cold related, but seedlings will go pink/red/orange/brownish naturally sometimes anyway. Strong light is good. If they start of with bright light, it's easier to harden them off to full sun later on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 28, 2011 Okay that's cool. Yeah it's a very cold temperature around here, I'm surprised they germinated at all. Cheers man, will keep updating the thread Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lhb2444 Posted June 29, 2011 Hey Khala, I've noticed the same on my loph seedlings and have been advised it could be either due to low amounts of light or it could just be normal so I wouldn't be overly worried. However tripsis raises a good point about the cold, mine are in the garage which is a pretty steady cool temperature but I would have thought Port Mac wouldn't have been to cold? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 29, 2011 Hey LHB, nah it's been around 10C at some points during the day here. But they've germinated so it can't be *too* cold. Do you think I should give them some more light then? They are oranged on the tip but pale in colour, so it's a pickle. Cheers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lhb2444 Posted June 29, 2011 I moved my seedlings closer to the fluro's they're under so I'll see how they go but you could always give one of your trays more light and see how they fair compared to others but as tripsis said "If they start of with bright light, it's easier to harden them off to full sun later on." Which I'm sure can only be a good thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted June 30, 2011 Another update. Looking good. There's about 60-70 popped up now. I had no idea I planted so many seeds! Haha. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philocacti Posted June 30, 2011 nice my lopho seedling either start off as etiolated (weak light) or reddish/brown (strong light). I prefer when my lopho seedlings are reddish rather than etiolated, the stay like this for the 1st 7 months then they start to green up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
